You know that thing where you can't really remember why you liked biking to begin with? I'd got so lost in the 'techness' of it all - chasing power, worrying about suspension settings, traction control and the like. The KTM was silly fast, and a hoot to ride. But I took a very long, hard, honest appraisal of the kind of riding I do for pleasure now and realised I'd lost a lot of that 'innocence' that I had when I first got on two wheels maybe 30 years ago...
So I wanted to see if a simple, no-frills bike would rekindle that a little - and preserve my license, as whilst I'm in no way a fast rider, it was so damn easy to go very fast on the Katoom you were always watching the speedo. And I'm a moderately competent amateur mechanic - inasmuch as I know what I can't do - but again the KTM was a black art that was beyond me. So I wanted a bike again that I could at least try and wrench a little.
All that is a long way of saying that the RE seemed the obvious choice - Triumphs too expensive, the W800 was a contender but the RE seemed to have the upper hand in things like the six speed box and slipper clutch. And frankly, anything else in the 'no frills naked bike' arena are either silly fast again (Superduke, Zeds, GSXs etc) or boring. The RE just looks the biz, and the plethora of farkles available means my GF will never have to worry about pressies for me for years to come (and she can ride on the back too - couldn't get on the KTM!)
